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We first discovered 27-year-old Rayner Tan several months ago on TikTok, where clips of him toasting prata and plating vegetarian meals at Hearty Green, a vegetarian canteen stall in Mee Toh School in Punggol, caught our eye. Before long, we dove down a rabbit hole of comforting videos showing different parts of his life.<\/p>\n
One moment, he\u2019s cycling to school before dawn; the next, he\u2019s chatting with students who recognise him from social media. And in another, he\u2019s highlighting his home-based business hustle after wrapping up a day at the canteen.<\/p>\n
More recently, a now-deleted clip of him “educating” primary school kids (their faces are always blurred for privacy) on basic manners became viral online. On the final day (Nov 18) of school before the holidays, Tan revealed that he would not be renewing his contract with the school.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Seeing a Gen Z vendor behind the canteen counter is rare and refreshing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was my first time working in a school canteen,\u201d he told 8days.sg. \u201cI started in August this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before Tan started cooking for kids, the NUS engineering science degree holder was an engineer. He worked for a year in a semiconductor firm, earning a stable income, before he decided to leave. \u201cI wanted to do volunteer work in Sapporo, Japan for a year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
That year abroad was part of a mission trip, where he helped with his church\u2019s activities and took part in cultural exchange programmes. He introduced dishes like chicken rice and laksa, cooked from scratch and discovered how food could bring people together.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was always the one who volunteered to cook,\u201d he recalled with a grin. \u201cAnd two of my teammates were primary school teachers. They told me about school canteens back home and that got me thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n